Bonds of Kinship 2: Discovery
by Higuchimon
Summary: Going out for a walk in the rain offers Johan a chance to ask a favor of Juudai.


**Series:** Bonds of Kinship||**Title:** Discovery  
**Characters:** Johan, Yubel, Juudai||**Ship:** Yubel x Juudai x Johan  
**Chapters:** 1-1||**Words:** 1,031  
**Genre:** Romance, Friendship||**Rated:** G  
**Challenges:** Diversity Writing, GX canon, C19, finding something; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #31, 1 chapter; Valentine's Day to White Day Advent 2016, day #29, write a fic concerning a personal headcanon (the Johan lookalike is his long-lost twin brother)  
**Notes:** This takes place some years post-canon.  
**Summary:** Going out for a walk in the rain offers Johan a chance to ask a favor of Juudai.

* * *

Johan rummaged in the closet. He knew it was in there; he'd put it in there himself. The problem was that he couldn't find it and he had no idea of _where_ in there it actually was.

There! He reached in past a pile of old boots – none of which he were certain fit anymore – and two old jackets that he _knew_ didn't fit anymore, and a suitcase that he'd sworn he would never open but he couldn't bring himself to get rid of, either.

The umbrella was big. More than big enough to cover two people. He gave it a critical look and wondered if it were possible to cover three, if they nestled under it.

"I won't need that."

Johan's head came up at once, staring at Yubel. "It's raining." Of course an umbrella would be needed. They were going outside. It was raining. _Anyone_ needed an umbrella.

Yubel continued to stare at him, the side of their mouth curved into what would have been a smile if it were anyone else. But Yubel only looked exasperated with him. Before he could say anything else, they reached out and ran one hand through the umbrella.

Johan winced. For all the years he'd seen and talked to and worked with spirits, he still on occasion forgot the simplest thing: a spirit's relation to the material world was entirely at their own whim, especially when they were as powerful as Yubel.

If Yubel didn't want to get rained on, then Yubel _wouldn't_ be rained on and that was all there was to it.

Juudai didn't even try to hide his snickering as he turned toward the door. "Come on," he said, years of peacemaking showing their effect. "Let's get going."

Johan saw no reason to argue. He fell into pace beside Juudai, aware that Yubel stood on the other side. He wasn't bothered by that. At least Yubel wasn't in between them. Not this time, anyway.

The first few times he and Juudai started to walk out together, or just spend time around one another, that was what they did. Yubel placed themselves in between Juudai and Johan and made it clear that they didn't approve of Johan.

Johan tried his best not to be upset by that. But trying and succeeding remained entirely different points.

But now the three of them strolled out into the rain, Johan holding the umbrella so he and Juudai remained covered by it. Johan suspected that if _Juudai_ didn't want to get rained on, then he wouldn't be either. But he wasn't doing that now.

Johan took a long look at the scenery around them: glorious bright green meadows, a tiny stream tricking off to the side, clouds of steel gray from horizon to horizon...it wasn't the most beautiful, but he liked it. That was why he lived here. It gave him a place he enjoyed when he wasn't helping people bond to their spirits.

"Do you think we can go to one of those other worlds?" Johan asked, a stray thought catching at him. He knew where he wanted to go; where he'd wanted to really explore for years, and hadn't had the opportunity.

"Right now?" Juudai tilted his head and Johan wondered if he saw a gleam of something that wasn't brown in his eyes. He'd seen Juudai with Yubel's eyes before but never quite so quickly or at such a simple question.

He shook his head as fast as he could. "Some other time. Just… sometime." He hesitated for a few seconds. He'd thought about this for a while and never brought it up before. Juudai seldom turned up long enough for him to talk about it and when he did, there was always something else that they needed to deal with.

"You told me about that guy," Johan said at last, eyes flicking from Juudai to Yubel and back again. "The one who you thought was me."

Juudai nodded and Johan kept on going. He'd thought about this long enough and now seemed like the best time to ask about it.

"If he's there anywhere, then I want to meet him. I want to know who he is."

Johan wasn't sure if he wanted to say what else lurked in the back of his mind: that he'd never known any relatives by blood, he'd grown up at an orphanage until he'd found a sponsor to help him enter North Academia. To find out why someone out there looked like him – he couldn't let the chance slip away.

"I'm not sure if he's-" Juudai started. Yubel interrupted before he got very far.

"He's there. I don't know where, but he's in that world somewhere."

Johan's eyes lit up. He stared at Yubel, not entirely sure if he believed this was happening. "He is?"

"He is?" Juudai echoed the words a scant heartbeat after Johan said them. Yubel nodded.

"He was one of those I kept then." A strange look passed over their features. "There is something that connects the two of you." Their gaze touched Johan now. "I don't know what, but at the time I thought it might be useful, so I kept him with the others, and sent him back to that world when we fused."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Juudai wanted to know. Yubel shrugged, tips of their wings flicking.

"No one asked."

Oh. That made as much sense as anything else. Johan decided if he did need to know something from Yubel, he would ask them.

He glanced again and decided to test that. "Yubel… thank you. And...is it all right if I…" He swallowed at the looked turned toward him and changed what he wanted to ask. "If I make something for all of us to eat when we get back home? You too, I mean. What would you like to eat?" He didn't know if Yubel even _could_ eat. That was something else that he'd never asked.

But the look directed toward him softened just a fraction, softened and warmed.

"I have no real preference. I can eat whatever you serve."

And Johan's heart skipped a few beats as they kept on walking together.

* * *

**The End**

**Notes:** There will be a multichaptered fic involving their eventual meeting with Rune.


End file.
